25 Years of Shank Hall

When Peter
Jest opened Shank Hall in 1989, he was adamant about what he didn’t want the
space to be: a bar. The club would serve drinks, of course—this is Milwaukee,
after all—but it was to be a concert venue first and foremost, a place to take
in live music without the intrusions of clanking pool balls or escalating bar
chatter. “I didn’t want a sports bar,” Jest says. “I didn’t want to serve food
or have drink specials or karaoke. From the beginning, this club was about
seeing a band and then going home.”

Twenty-five
years later, that mentality hasn’t changed. Shank Hall still only opens its
door for concerts, and Jest still prides his East Side venue on providing an
optimum live-music experience, with fine-tuned sound, unobstructed sightlines
and fair prices. Shank Hall remains, as it was when it opened, a local rarity,
one of the only mid-sized, 300 capacity clubs in a market where live music
tends to takes place in crowded bars or roomy theaters. And even more so than
most local venues, it’s a niche destination, a magnet for blues, classic rock,
alt-country and roots music fans that remains all but off the radar of casual
bar hoppers.

For Jest,
the club’s sheer longevity is proof that he’s doing something right. Without
calling out anybody by name, but usually while leaving little doubt about who
he’s talking about, the outspoken promoter criticizes venues that charge hidden
service fees (“When we advertise a $10 show it’s really $10,” he says), offer
shoddy sightlines (“You can’t call yourself a live music venue if bands are
setting up on the carpet in front of a dart board—to be a music venue you need
a stage”), or crowd their weeknight bills with opening acts (“I don’t
understand why you’d have four bands starting at 9 o’clock on a Wednesday night”).
And he’s earned the right to weigh in on these things—after all, he marvels,
Shank Hall has been around for 25 years, and countless other venues have come
and gone during that quarter century.

“At least
50 venues that have had live music as one of their main draws have closed since
we’ve been open,” Jest says. “It’s not that I enjoy that, but that shows that
we must be doing something right. Those other venues had owners that weren’t as
passionate about music as I am. There’s no way to explain it: I’m passionate
about music and I know what I’m doing.”

Although
there are a lot fewer venues in Milwaukee today than there were a quarter
century ago, Jest notes that there are new challenges. Shank Hall now competes
for bookings with the Potawatomi Hotel & Casino and the Pabst Theater
venues, two organizations that are aggressive about landing the shows they
want. Meanwhile, Milwaukee’s ever-expanding calendar of outdoor festivals and
free concerts in the parks has cut deeply into the club’s summer business. Jest
also laments that the club has struggled to draw some of the city’s more
popular young bands.

“It’s too
bad that we can’t get younger bands to play here,” he says. “My theory is that
every band should play two venues in town if they’re doing well, because not
everybody wants to see shows on just the East Side, or in just Bay View or
Riverwest or Cudahy. But there are some people that run venues who try to lock
in talent by telling bands, ‘If you want to keep playing here you’re only going
to play here.’ That’s why you see some local bands that are playing a 1,000-seat
room when there are only 200 people there, or some bands that are playing rooms
that are much too small. It’s unfortunate that goes on, but there’s not much I
can do about it.”

But, Jest
notes, that’s not to say the club has trouble filling its calendar. In the last
year Shank Hall has hosted acts like Shawn Phillips, Jonathan
Richman, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Movits!, The Wood Brothers, James McMurtry
and Semi-Twang, the local roots-rock institution that played the club’s opening
weekend 25 years ago and will return for its 25th anniversary show this
weekend. The club inspires that kind of loyalty.

“I still
really enjoy what I do,” Jest says. “When you love music it’s fun to be a part
of. As long as I can keep booking shows and make a few bucks I’ll keep doing
it. I see no reason to stop now.”

Shank Hall hosts its 25th anniversary show with
Semi-Twang and Mike Benign Compulsion on Saturday, Nov. 8 at 8 p.m.

Comments (2)

Shank is a great place to see a touring band and P...

Shank is a great place to see a touring band and Peter has brought in some great acts. While Shank is celebrating it's 25 years, the music history goes back further with Teddy's and the Barn having been in the same location. Pretty astounding. There are a couple of problems with Shank attracting younger local bands, or even local bands in general. The first one is that Shank isn't a bar. The audience for local music isn't going to a "concert" and they typically aren't looking to go home at 11:00 pm. They're going out for the evening. They're looking to socialize and hang with their friends at a bar and the band(s) become the event that draws them together. The second is given the amount that Shank charges for the PA and sound man it takes at least 40 people through the door to break even. Because of reason number one, a good local band, with a following will have a hard time attracting their crowd to shank...it's not a bar. This makes reason number two the deal breaker. I love playing Shank - great sound, dressing room... but our audience (and we're a regionally successful band) doesn't show up. We can pack a good size bar to capacity, but the crowd's a no show when we've played Shank.

Anonymousmore than 4 years ago

I hope Shank Hall goes on another 100 years. Thank...

I hope Shank Hall goes on another 100 years. Thanks, Peter.

Anonymousmore than 4 years ago

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